My alma mater Bates College used to have a massive trivia night contest that lasted into the wee hours of the morning. For some reason, my team with Jen and Joanne called ourselves, "A Trip to the Dentist" in 1988. We did very well, winning a giant pizza or something. (Did you know there is actually a Desert in Maine? We did!) This week I made my first actual trip to the dentist in a couple years.

Soon after FirstMed began using Treehugger Dan's Fair Trade organic teas, Dental Practice Manager Andrea Toth contacted me to see if I would like a free trial of their services, and if I was satisfied, write an article about it. Having been questioned by Bottlehugger Ben's kids this summer as to why Dan Bacsi's teeth were discolored, I decided to take her up on the offer. It has probably been 30 years since my last whitening, and technology has certainly changed since then. I began the treatment last week when smiling Dr. Zsombor Vecsey gave me my first check up in a couple years. Luckily, no cavities! However, he did comment that the white streaks on my teeth were an enamel problem caused either by genetics or perhaps if my mother had taken antibiotics while pregnant. Nothing can be done about this, so perhaps this is why this is the first I have ever heard of it. I was then passed on to dental assistant Gabriella Major who gave me a thorough, careful, patient and friendly cleaning. This involved some bubble-gum flavored numbing gel for my gums, the usual scraping off of tar and plaque, a candy-flavored sand blasting, and finally a polishing in preparation for the Zoom whitening in two day's time. Although the difference was not immediately apparent to my eyes, I felt the difference almost immediately and could not help running my tongue over my teeth.

If you are going to have a whitening procedure done, be advised that you will not be able to drink coffee, tea, red wine, or smoke for 2 weeks at risk of ruining what you just had done. We started with a little black pen that applies a UV gum protector gel, which is then hardened with a small UV penlight. Then another pen was used to apply the whitening cream. Lastly, the Zoom UV lamp that looks like the robot in Wall-E was turned on my mouth for 20 minutes. While the normal treatment usually consists of 3 applications of 15 minutes each, I only had one session for 20 minutes because of my enamel problem. More whitening would actually have highlighted the problem. Even so, I could immediately see the difference and am happy with the results.

FirstMed opened in Budapest, Hungary in February of 1999 and has become the leading provider of private family practice and urgent care medical services in Budapest. FirstMed serves individuals, families, companies, embassies, and non-profit organizations.

If you have any questions about the dental services at FirstMed, contact Andrea Toth at dentist@firstmedcenters.com
The oral exam is HUF 5,500.-, the cleaning: HUF 25,000.- (partial is 50% off), the whitening is HUF 80,000.- with long-lasting, enamel- friendly whitening gel.